In some not-too-surprising news, Jarome Iginla will not sign with the Bruins before the start of free agency and will become an unrestricted free agent as of Tuesday at noon, according to a report from Chris Johnson of Sportsnet[1].

The Bruins and general manager Peter Chiarelli have stayed in contact with Iginla and agent Don Meehan, as they hope to sign the player but currently don’t have the cap space to do so. As such, Iginla has spoken to other teams in the pre-free-agency period in which contact between teams and soon-to-be free agents is permitted.

As of Monday evening, the Bruins have $67,582,500 committed to their cap figure for next season, with the league’s upper-limit set at $69 million. Including the $4.027 million by which they can exceed the limit given Marc Savard[2]‘s long-term injury status, the Bruins have $5,697,500 to spend, though they must also sign restricted free agents Torey Krug and Reilly Smith, among others. A source familiar with the situation told WEEI.com Monday that Chiarelli is “reviewing all of his options” regarding the cap crunch the Bruins currently face.

Iginla will turn 37 on Tuesday, though he’s still plenty productive. The future Hall-of-Famer’s 30 goals were tied for the team lead for the Bruins in the regular season. He also led the B’s with five postseason goals.